


Togenkyo

by meowgon



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Alcohol, Drinking, Gen, Handwaving, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Karaoke, Marvel References, Multiverse, POV Alternating, POV Outsider, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 08:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17260559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meowgon/pseuds/meowgon
Summary: A few months after the death of Peter Parker, things are going much smoother in the multiverse, and travel between universes is possible thanks to some clever thinking by Peni. To celebrate, she invites Miles and the rest of the spider gang to 21st century Tokyo for a day of fun (and maybe some danger).





	1. Chapter 1

“These laws are crazy. How do people even deal with it? The freedom!” Peter took a swig of the beer in his hand, then used his mouth to pull a fried chicken stick out of the flimsy yellow bag in his hand. Speaking of unfair, who let Japan have chicken fries when Burger King stopped selling them years ago? 

“Who cares about walking around with some smelly old beer?” Miles said, eyeing him sidelong. “You can do that in New York.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, Miles, what neighborhood did you grow up in? You can't just walk around with a beer. Do I have to teach you New York _laws_ now?”

“Nah, like, what if you're out on your stoop? I've seen people doing it!”

“Okay, see, stoop laws are different. It's just disrespectful to arrest somebody on the stoop.”

“They do it sometimes though,” Gwen interjected. “I've totally seen it.”

“Every job has its villains. Even superheroes have a few. Or heroes who are villains half the time.”

“You mean like Deadpool?” Miles asked. 

Peter stopped in the street and groaned. 

“Don't tell me you have Deadpool.”

Busy pedestrians moved around him with glances of confusion and irritation. It was near 5:00 PM, and nobody in a city like Tokyo had time to wait for a stranger. 

After a moment, Gwen gave him a push from behind to get him moving again. Miles shrugged at Gwen like, what's up with Uncle Spidey? She rolled her eyes back--who knows with this guy. 

“Sure, we got Deadpool. The mercenary in the pink and white outfit? She helps out the big superheroes sometimes but I hear she's bad news with a gun,” Miles said. 

“Oh, I can never tell Wade about this,” Peter grumbled. 

“Who's W--wait, are you on a first name basis with Deadpool?” Gwen asked, her eyebrows shooting up. 

“Also, is anybody in your universe not a guy? I'm starting to think you need an intervention,” Miles added with a smirk. 

“Excuse you, you can't diagnose my universe with a diversity problem just because Doc Ock and Deadpool are not women! You should see the Avengers,” Peter protested. He crumpled the empty chicken bag in his hand and started counting off on his fingers. 

“There's She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, we got this other Spider-Woman, different one Gwen, Maria Hill--she doesn't even need powers. See? Tons of ‘em. Don't have time to list them all.” 

Gwen and Miles exchanged a smug look behind Peter's back so palpable he didn't need spider-sense to feel it. 

“No more questions! It's walking with beer while kids be quiet time now,” he grumbled, taking an audible shlup from the can. They walked in silence for a few moments, buffeted by locals and tourists alike as they moved down the busy street. 

“Wait, which station were we meeting Peni at again?”

All three of them lifted their heads, squinted at the mishmash of Japanese, English, and Korean store signs, then looked at each other. The next step was clear. Peter crushed his beer can and chucked it into a recycling bin a block away. 

“Yeah, you see that? Nothing but net!” 

Miles and Gwen were already halfway down a sidestreet.

“Can't even make a Rodney Dangerfield joke, they're too young,” he muttered before he followed. 

They went up. Possible train tracks swirled all around them, enough to get any spider but a local confused. At least Gwen was prepared with the address on Google maps. The satellite connection that had careened around uselessly on the streets finally centered when the tall buildings gave way to open skies. 

“See you there,” she called as she bound to the next roof with an en pointe flourish. Miles and Peter were the ones who exchanged a glance then. 

“She's cooler than us, Miles. We gotta shape up,” Peter said with a grin. 

“Man, I don't know about you, but I'm plenty cool.” Miles dropped the hood of his jacket down from his masked head and leapt after Gwen.

Peter watched him go. He'd developed a lot during a few months on his own. Each scattershot jump went wild, took him just far enough to reach his goal before he rocketed off again.

What a sight: the freedom of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant this to just be some fun, but it grew a plot while I wasn't looking. Look forward to that! 
> 
> (Apologies to Gwenpool, I stole her and made her actual Deadpool in this universe.) 
> 
> P.S. Ham/Noir and Gwen/Miles are real. I may add tags later but know that it's already there, in my heart. I really miss Japan so all my fic is set there now I guess! Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, picture this. You are a normal college student with a normal job at Karaoke Kan. You work twenty to thirty hours a week for just above minimum wage. It's simple enough. Get people checked into their rooms with the right plan and the right first drink orders, handle any emergencies that pop up, and call people when their time is done. People cause problems sometimes, especially when you work a late shift, but overall it's pretty laid back. (You wish they didn't make you wear a stupid collared shirt and vest, but what part-time job doesn't have a silly uniform?) 

So, you're having an average shift when an elementary schooler with a spider (?) on her head appears. Weird, but it's completely still so it's probably some type of cosplay prop or something. 

Forget it, more importantly, the girl is way too young to get a room! They've got rules about this kind of thing. 

“Sorry, but you'll need an adult to get the room,” you say as gently as you can to spider girl. Don't need a weird kid tantrum in the lobby. 

She beams at you, undaunted. 

“Don't worry, my friends are coming! But they don't speak Japanese, so I've got to translate. You should let me make the reservation now to save time.”

You eye her and her spider suspiciously, then shake your head. 

“Sorry, we'll have to wait until there's someone a little older.”

Jump cut to thirty minutes later, you've almost forgotten about tiny spider girl because you've had, like, fifteen other groups since then, one of which was drunk and rowdy.

That's when the black-and-white guy with a pig doll walks in. There is no other way to describe the guy. He lacks color. The pink pig wearing a nerdy outfit dangling in his arms stands in vivid contrast against the pitch black of his jacket and the monochrome of his face. You stare. Who wouldn't stare? 

“Peters!” 

That's when you remember spider girl. She runs up to hug her friend, though he turns his back to you so all you see are her arms wrapping around his torso. You hear a barrage of quick English from three distinct voices, which has you craning your neck to see who else is speaking. The spider? The pig? Somebody who was hiding in the trenchcoat? 

Spider girl returns, although her spider is gone. Sweat prickles at your temples. Where did it _go_? 

“These are two of my friends!” she says with a big grin on her face. 

You nod, because there's nothing else to do. Yes, these… two. The guy and the pig, which is cradled in his arms like a plush. It hangs, unblinking, but looks eerily realistic close up.

Sure. 

“Three more of my friends are coming! Can we get our room now? We'll need all of the music! And, um, all of the drinks!”

“All… of the drinks? Do you mean you'd like the full, all-you-can drink menu?” You eye the monochrome guy. He does seem like he could put away some hard liquor if he wanted to.

“Yeah! I'm going to have so many sodas!” spider girl burbles. Okay, you think she doesn't know what the full menu is, so you try again. Holding up the sheet of paper for her to read, you go down the list carefully. 

“So, what I have here is that you want a room with both our music systems, JoySound and LiveDam, and you want the all-you-can-drink menu. That includes alcohol. Is that what you want?”

“Oohhh, I don't know…” 

(Unsettling lack of) spider girl huddles with her friends for a moment. Once again, the monochrome one has his back to you. You close your eyes and take deep, calming breaths. 

“ _No beer_ ,” monochrome guy says in English, his gloved hand coming down hard on the desk. You jump. He's saying something else in a strange voice while pointing at you, but you can't follow it. 

“He says that hard stuff makes people act like a bunch of ninnies and we don't need any of that!” spider girl helpfully translates. 

“All right, no alcohol, thank you,” you say, resorting to scripts to keep the shell-shock out of your voice. “Three more are coming, so… five… people? Will that be all?”

That causes another flurry of conversation. Things sound like they get heated for a moment, but then they laugh and split apart. You honestly have no idea what's going on at this point and are not going to ask.

“Yeah, five people, that's all!” spider girl says, with an exaggerated wink at the end of it. 

Smiling nervously, you get the first drink order (a round of cola for everyone), then hand her the receipt with the room number on it. As she's walking to the elevator, you swear you see the spider from before crawling up her back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peni's spider is a girl imo, also nobody could tell me if she really had a name so I just went with the same name as the robot. It's fine! (It's not fine, tweet me back Gerard Way I need answers) 
> 
> This section borrows some stuff from the comics and blends it with the movie so just go with it! Enjoy!

“This place is so _vintage_ ,” Peni enthused to herself as she rushed through the small, slightly smoky room. 

“Look at the mics! The speakers! There was nowhere like this left in New York. My dad said they had karaoke museums in Tokyo, but the past is even better!”

Giggling, she jumped on the vinyl couch, then hopped back down and skipped through the narrow space between the couch and table. Unfortunately, this brought her right into the path of Ham. 

“Eep!” 

“Whoa, kiddo!”

To avoid a full on collision, Ham turned sideways and flew out of her way like a sheet of paper blown in a strong wind. He slowly floated back down and landed in Noir's outstretched arms while Peni skidded to a stop.

“Hey there hero, you come here often?” Ham said with a 2D wink at Noir. 

“No, but I expect to learn a lot from it,” he answered with a serious nod. 

“Sorry about that,” Peni apologized, her hands pressed together in front of her face. SP//dr climbed onto her fingers and made a similar gesture with its front two legs. 

“Now, you don't have to worry, Peni, I'm as tough as leather,” Ham said. With a “hup!” he popped back into the third dimension and out of Noir’s arms. 

“You too, little friend.” He offered SP//dr his outstretched hand. “We spiders gotta stick together will all these weird humans around, eh? Eh?” 

Peni tipped her head to the side, then shook her head. SP//dr moved backward up her arm, to her shoulder. 

“I don't think she quite believes you about that. It's hard to imagine you were ever small like her.”

“Oh, sure, I was small as anybody! Just me and my eight gloves,” Ham said with an air of nostalgia. Peni smiled, a _little_ doubtful. 

The sound of two balloons rubbing together filled the air as Ham settled on the couch and shifted to get comfortable. Noir sat next to him, slung both arms over the back of the couch, then thumped his black boots onto the center table. 

“I love a guy who can really show a table who's boss,” Ham said with a waggle of his snout. 

Peni wasn't paying attention to them anymore, as she'd taken SP//dr to check out the charmingly old-fashioned wiring of the stereo and TV setup. Her friend crawled over the tangles of wires and speakers that made up the sound system, relaying back an eight-eyed view of the setup behind the TV through the psychic link they shared. 

“ _Fascinating._ They really needed wires for everything in this century.”

Suddenly, the door burst open. Peni whipped into a defensive fighting stance as SP//dr leapt back onto her arm. Even without their robot, they were ready for action. 

Peter swanned in like a gregarious uncle, his arms wide.

“Peni! Are you rewiring the sound system in here? That's our girl!"

She relaxed her stance and ran forward to meet him. Rest had done him good. Without the scruffy beard and bears sleeping under his eyes, he seemed younger. Not that she was great at guessing adults’ ages yet...

“Ignore him, he's drunk,” Miles said as he pushed in from behind. Gwen followed last, her hands in the pockets of her jacket but a smile on her face.

“I had a single beer, Miles! A man of my height and metabolism can process that in no time.”

“Okay, well, stop acting like you're drunk and maybe I'll believe you,” Miles said with a laugh. He gave Peni a gentle high five. 

“Hey Pen, what's up?”

“Everything's great! I'm so glad we could meet up again!”

Peter jostled Miles out of the way with friendly grumbling-- _all right, enough of the lovefest kid_ \--then he knelt down on her level to give her a pat on the head. 

“Love the portal wrist gadgety thing. Keeping the Parker science tradition going, unlike these two,” Peter said in a conspiratorial whisper as he jerked his thumb toward Ham and Noir. 

“Huhu, thanks! I made them look super old-fashioned so they'd blend in,” Peni whispered back. 

He tapped his temple with one finger, then tapped hers. 

“Smart. Thinking. This is what I'm talking about. Got the science _mindset_.”

He gave her one more pat on the head, stood up, popped his back loudly, and shifted his (possibly intoxicated) attention to the other guests. 

“ _Porrrkerrr_! You know, I didn't even see you outta the suit last time. Look at you! There's a whole pig under there.”

“Good to see you too, my tall friend!” Ham said. 

“Love the sweater vest by the way. Classic. And hey, other other Peter, my guy who actually looks way more like me than I expected, what's happening?”

“Everything's been like eggs in coffee this evening,” Noir said with a congenial tilt of his head. 

“Awesome! I don't know what that means. I also didn't know you wear glasses? Did I know that?”

Noir cleared his throat and adjusted the frames with one ghostly white hand. 

“They're a remnant of my past self--just a facade.”

Miles and Gwen shared a private grin. Who would have guessed Noir wore hipster glasses?

“Ah, yeah, can't pretend to switch to contacts in the 1930s, huh? Anyway, you're looking great, not to sound narcissistic--”

“Alright, can we cool it with the Peter B-roll and have some more love for Peni for making all this possible?” Miles interrupted. 

He and Gwen were sitting with Peni between them like royal attendants to a tiny queen. She gave everyone an aw-shucks grin and kicked her feet back and forth.

“It was nothing. Well, actually, it was months of work and testing based on all that data I lifted from Doc Ock, but it was fun!”

"That's our P--"

A sharp knock at the door grabbed the focus of the room. Polite Japanese preceded a young woman with a tray full of soda. She spread the five drinks across their table as she looked anywhere but their faces. Awkward silence reigned. The strange stuffed animal lying between the two white men caught and held her gaze for a long, uncomfortable moment. 

“Arigatou gozaimasu!” Peni piped up, which drew a chorus of awkwardly pronounced imitations from the rest of them. The woman nodded, bowed, and backed out without another word. 

“Phew, I thought she'd figured me out!” Ham breathed as he sat back up. 

“Hey, uh, what's up with the soda count? Aren't we missing one?” Gwen asked. She'd already placed one glass in Peni's hand, but the misnumbering was obvious when she returned for another.

The three who had arrived first glanced at each other. 

“Well, the man at the front desk didn't think Peter Porker was real, so…” Peni said. She shrugged; a guilty smile flickered on her face. 

“The morality of our actions may be gray, but sometimes the truth needs to be bent,” Noir said. 

“A toast to karaoke crimes!” Peter called as he lifted up a glass of soda. The tension broke, and laughter echoed through the small room. 

“But seriously, how do we order something else to drink? Coke ain't gonna cut it," Peter added. He passed the soda to Ham.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shenanigans start in earnest next chapter, I promise.
> 
> *Translators note: bears sleeping under your eyes is a fantastic Japanese idiom for having bags under your eyes


End file.
